Unintended consequences? The importance of place in social and economic policy
Thursday 23 October 2014 6 for 6.30pm Room 9130, Cantor Building, City Campus
Many social and economic processes are, by their very nature, likely to be more pronounced in areas characterised by certain types of jobs, tenure or demographics. Some interventions are intended to provide specified outcomes for particular areas. However, at times, policy is seemingly developed with little consideration of the potentially uneven impacts which may emerge. Indeed, the combination of local circumstances in some areas can lead to crucial unintended and unforeseen consequences in the longer term. Generating robust evidence by place over time is essential if processes and uneven impacts are to be understood.
This lecture draws upon key strands of Christina’s research conducted over the past twenty years on hidden unemployment, the coalfields, seaside towns and the spatial impacts of welfare reform to demonstrate why geography matters and why place should play a more central role in informing both policy decisions and analytical frameworks in the future.
Christina Beatty is Professor of Applied Economic Geography at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) and heads the Data Analysis and Policy Team within the Centre. A statistician by background, she joined CRESR in 1992 and has extensive experience of undertaking large scale, data intensive and applied policy research.
She has secured funding for her research from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Communities and Local Government, as well as numerous local authorities and charities. Christina has played a pivotal role in CRESR’s leading edge research on: the impacts of welfare reform; the geography and measurement of hidden unemployment; understanding the barriers to work for claimants of incapacity benefits and identifying the long-term dynamics of labour markets in varied geographic and economic contexts.
Places are free and include light refreshments, but must be booked in advance.